Patients and experts explore what it takes to find good health care and make the most of it.

Kathi Kolb has worked for 20 years as a physical therapist, primarily in home health care, with a specialty in oncology rehab. Diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ in 2008, she encountered first-hand the confusion and all-too-frequent disillusionment of being a cancer patient. A former freelance journalist, she decided to apply her combined patient/clinician perspective to this experience on her blog, The Accidental Amazon. You can also follow her on Twitter at @KathiKolb.

* The Center for Advancing Health was a nonprofit organization founded in 1992, supported by individuals and foundations and based in Washington, D.C. until its closing in 2014. Supported by the Jessie Gruman Memorial Fund, cfah.org resources will remain online until January 2020.

Copyright Notice

The George Washington University (GW) owns copyrights to materials created by Jessie Gruman, PhD and/or the Center for Advancing Health (CFAH) which are available at www.cfah.org.

For non-profit research or educational use of Gruman/CFAH materials, please cite the article and utilize the acknowledgement: “[insert name of materials] are utilized courtesy of the George Washington University.”

All users agree to hold GW harmless and to indemnify GW for all liabilities, demands, damages, expenses and losses arising out of use of Gruman/CFAH materials for any purpose. All users agree not to claim, infer, or imply GW endorsement of the user’s activities.

Gruman/CFAH materials are provided AS IS, WITH NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, and with no representations that the use of CFAH materials will not infringe any patent or proprietary rights of third parties.

For-profit use of Gruman/CFAH materials requires a commercial use license. For information on obtaining a commercial use license, please contact the George Washington University Office of Technology Transfer.